Category Archives: tapas

cata hedonia

16 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in events, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, wine

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[click on image to enlarge]

Last night I was invited to a wine tasting and tapas pairing at newly opened Hedonia Tapas & Brasas. The tasting was led by my friend, wine expert, journalist and author Javier Compás. It was a real treat to watch Javier in action, and as the wines were all new to me, I also learned a lot from his casual and informative presentation. The food pairings were all very good, and it was a nice introduction to a new tapas bar. Great to see some of the local foodie gang too. Thanks for a lovely evening Hedonia and Javier!

anne & paul

05 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, sherry, tapas

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I first met Anne and Paul last spring when I went to Jerez for a sherry tasting followed by a combined birthday/leaving party for our mutual friend Momoko. Since then we’ve stayed in touch and have also met up on other Jerez Getaways, such as this past weekend.

We all went to the Lustau sherry tasting at noon on Saturday, and afterwards met up with our friend Tomoko at nearby Albalá Restaurante for an amazing lunch. This (of course) was followed by a penúlitima and Paul chose a bar that I’d never been to before, but will certainly visit next time I’m in town. Then it was “suddenly” time to get the train home. Fabulous day… I look forward to taking Anne and Paul on a tapeo in Sevilla sometime soon.  🙂

Albalá: tuna tartare, asparagus in tempura, secreto meatballs,
pork tenderoin, wild boar, apple tart

La Penúltima with Tomoko, Anne, Peter and Paul

Paul & Peter at the Jerez train station

feels like christmas!

23 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

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The other day I was updating my Sherry Education pages on Sevilla Tapas, as well as organizing some recently booked sherry & tapas tours and a private sherry tasting, and it occurred to me that I should also update the sherry info PDF I give to my clients. I usually print this up at home and, while useful, it lacks (shall we say?) a bit of visual polish. And so I asked the Sherry Council in Jerez if they had some promotional material I could use on my tours and tastings. And check it out! These came yesterday morning and it felt like Christmas all over again.

The larger booklet is basically the same information I have on the PDFs, but obviously this looks much more professional. And the smaller one is a guide to food and sherry pairings entirely based on tapas bars in Sevilla. Perfect! Looking forward to using them soon.

madrid fusion 2018

17 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in andalucia, events, food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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Madrid Fusión is an international gastronomy fair aimed particularly at chefs, but also at other industry professionals. As well as the main exhibition area, the highlights are the cooking demonstrations and master classes, wine tastings and competitions, and seminars on a wide range of topics from new cooking techniques to environmental issues.

This year’s event is the 15th edition and runs from the 22nd – 24th of January, and is extra special for Sevilla because the City Council and Tourism Board is promoting the city and its tapas, including a Tapas Jam Session “show cooking” on the opening day. This fabulous video features the four bars taking part in this presentation and I am so proud to be able to say that they are not only four of my favourite bars, chefs, owners and teams, but they are also my friends. I’d love to be there to cheer them on, but I have a previous work obligation so will be there in spirit instead.

The featured bars are: La Azotea (chef Santiago González) Cañabota (chef Marcos Nieto), El Gallinero de Sandra (chef & co-owner Nacho Dargallo) and Lalola Taberna (chef & owner Javier Abascal). Watch the video – it’s gorgeous.

[also posted on Azahar Sevilla]

amigas & más

10 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars

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chef Javi Abascal & Cinta Romero

I love this chica. I was fortunate to meet Cinta Romero a year ago when I visited her unique private catering venue La Cochera del Abuelo. And I was even more fortunate when shortly afterwards she became a part of my fabulous We Love Tapas team. Since then we have become friends as well as colleagues, and she is always an inspiration to me.

As Cinta and I share a passion for gastronomy in Sevilla we also make great “tapas research” partners. But yesterday was an extra special outing as we finally managed to meet up at La Lola Gourmet Tapas, which is run by a friend of Cinta’s, chef Javier Abascal. We were treated to a special tapas tasting menu, which was outstanding.

Later we were joined by Cinta’s daughter María (who had the burger) and later still by her husband Javier (for a penúltima). It was a fantastic afternoon, with lunch finally finishing around 6.00 pm. Great food and wine, even better company, and lots of interesting conversation. Mostly “talking shop”, which could have continued for a few hours more. Instead we made a date for a “tapas dinner” next week to pick up where we left off. Really looking forward to it.